


Into the Nightmare

by noa748



Category: Silent Hill
Genre: Blood and Gore, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mindfuck, Psychological Horror, Self Insert, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noa748/pseuds/noa748
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything looked so much more...deadly when she wasn't watching it from behind a TV screen. But that was okay; this had to be a dream, right? It would all be over soon...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Yooo, it's me again! This story has been completed for a few years now, but my account on this site is pretty barren so I decided to just post it. Whyyyy not. 
> 
> The premise of this fic is pretty simple. Imagine playing Silent Hill one day, and waking up there the next. How would you handle it? Probably not well. I know I wouldn't.

_"The fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh."_

That quote always does seem to spark a sense of nostalgia in me. Most people just wouldn't understand. What is it? It sounds creepy, doesn't it? And yet, it brings back a lot of memories; although not all the images it brings are good, I can't deny that the quote makes me think of some good times I had.

I always was too much of a daydreamer. My mind's never on the present; it's hard being a writer and not thinking of different possibilities for stories, especially when it helps keep you entertained during a long day at school. Sometimes I wonder how I ever managed to get my driver's license with how I am. I make so many wrong turns it's not even funny.

Somehow I don't think this one was my fault, though.

No, most people wouldn't understand the fear of blood and its tendencies. Most people have never had the pleasure of traversing the abandoned streets of Silent Hill...

I never imagined I'd be doing so without a controller in my hand.


	2. Have You Seen my Wife?

My back hurt.

That was the first thing I became aware of as I lay here; but where was _here,_ exactly? I didn't know. I just knew that my back was sore, and the ache was starting to pull me out of sleep.

I shifted slightly, attempting to reach a more comfortable position, and frowned. This all felt wrong...this didn't feel like my bed. It was too cold, there was no blanket...in fact, it felt like I was lying on sand. But that couldn't be right...

I opened my eyes, hoping that I was wrong, that I was really home in my bed.

"...What?" I murmured to myself, gaping at my surroundings.

It looked like I was on a beach of some sort, bordering a lake. Its gray waters were relatively placid, reflecting the cool fog above. I glanced around, my frown steadily deepening. There seemed to be a road behind me, and behind that, forest.

Disoriented, I reached up to rub my forehead. How the hell had I gotten here...? What was this place? I still felt half-asleep; my mind was about as foggy as my surroundings. I shook my head, squinting my eyes shut for a brief moment.

The last thing I remembered...I had been driving home from school. It had been foggy then, too...

Starting to truly wake up, I scowled. I couldn't remember making it home, but that didn't explain how I'd ended up here. Even if I had crashed the car or something, the lake closest to my house was still about ten miles away. It didn't add up.

Well, sitting on my ass and thinking about it wasn't going to solve anything. Maybe I could take a look around.

As I stood up, I suddenly remembered my cell phone, and patted down my right pocket in search of it. Relief surged through me when my hand touched the familiar device. I pulled it out of my pocket, flipping it open. I could probably call my mom for a ride, if I could figure out where I was. I just had to use the GPS...

Shit. No bars.

I stared at the phone's lit screen for a second, my brow furrowed, and then looked around me again. No bars...that definitely wasn't a good sign. Was I seriously that far from town?

Pocketing the phone once more, I took a deep breath. It was okay, though, right? There was a paved road right behind me. If I followed that, I'd eventually reach civilization. And if not, I'd probably find a house or two. All I had to do was knock on someone's door, and ask to use their phone. Someone was bound to have a landline.

Comforting myself with this thought, I started down the road. The lake remained to my left as I walked, and I continually glanced at it. It seemed pretty big...

I began to name off all of the New York lakes that I knew of, and still didn't get any closer to an answer. This wasn't nearly big enough to be one of the Great Lakes, but it didn't have the right shape to it to be one of the Finger Lakes... The lake I had been thinking of earlier, Oneida Lake, was much closer to my house. But still, I had been around that area enough times to know that this wasn't the same place. One of the lakes up by the Adirondacks, then? But how the hell would I end up there?

I continually cast troubled glances towards the lake's murky waters. I wasn't sure why this was bothering me so much, not being able to name the lake. Maybe it was because it seemed oddly familiar...hell, everywhere around me seemed familiar in some sort of way. I knew this place, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. If I could just figure out where I was, I'd be that much closer to getting home...

Through the fog, I started to see the outline of a building. Finally! I jogged towards it, smiling slightly with satisfaction. This didn't make any sense, but at least I'd be able to straighten things out and get some answers now.

I slowed down as I reached the building, nearing the doors and pausing. There was a lock and chain binding the two handles together, preventing entry. This didn't look like a personal residence, though. I backed away, looking around, and quickly found my answer. I'd missed the sign in my hurry, but it looked like this was some sort of museum.

Facing the sign, I stared at it for a moment, crossing my arms.

"Silent Hill Historical Society," I murmured, shaking my head. "Silent Hill..."

I looked over at the building again, struck by its familiarity. Now that I was really looking, it did resemble _that_ building, the one with the impossibly long staircase.

I scoffed, smiling. Just a coincidence. A coincidence, or an interesting dream. Regardless of my situation, Silent Hill didn't exist; there was probably some sort of explanation for this. Maybe the building in the game had been named after this one for some reason? Agh, it didn't matter.

Turning away from the building, I continued my trek down the road. If there was a museum here...that meant there had to be other buildings nearby. People didn't build museums in the middle of nowhere.

I checked my phone again. Still no service...why wasn't it working?

The fog continued to press at me as I walked in silence down the edge of the road. There weren't any cars, but I guess that wasn't too surprising. Not many people would want to be out driving with such low visibility.

Something continued to nag at me, the familiarity of this place, but I dismissed it immediately and kept walking. Seconds dragged on into minutes, and I found myself repeatedly checking my phone to see how long I'd been walking. The road remained pretty much the same through the whole thing, slightly curved but with no turns or intersections.

After twenty minutes, I began to wonder if I was even making any progress at all. It felt like the road was endless; it was so foggy, I didn't feel like I was even moving forward half the time. The lake remained to my left, and even the shoreline didn't show much irregularity. It was starting to weird me out. I didn't want to run, because I was sure that once I started, I'd smash into a street sign or something. This fog was ridiculous.

Twenty-two minutes had passed. Buildings finally started to appear. I approached a gas station, a bowling alley. Both were closed and locked. I banged on the doors, but no employees came to answer. A car idled at the gas pump, a metal pipe jutting out of the hood. I stared at it for a long time, fighting the irrational urge to pull the pipe out.

No, that would be stupid. What use did I have for a pipe?...More importantly, what was a pipe doing sticking out of that damn car? And why was a car idling at a closed gas station?

I glanced up at the sign. Texxon Gas...

Had that one gas station been named that? It couldn't have been. My mind was just playing tricks on me.

I spent about five minutes fruitlessly searching for the car's owner. Once again, I fought the urge to take the pipe, or even the car itself. If I found the police, I wanted them to help me, not throw me behind bars for vehicle theft.

It was useless...the owner was nowhere in sight. Then again, I wasn't sure I _wanted_ to meet whoever left a friggin' pipe jutting out of their car. Obviously they had some issues.

Sighing, I finally turned away from the gas station and headed back out on to the road. Keeping the lake to my left once more, I trudged further up the street. Maybe I'd be able to find some residential areas...clearly this part of town was deserted for some weird reason.

...This damn fog...

Another few minutes of walking led me to a few more buildings, a fence and a staircase. The buildings were locked up—no surprise there—and so was the gate to the fence, but it seemed like that only led to a parking lot. I descended the short stairway, heading down a concrete sidewalk. Some shrubs and bushes came into view, meticulously cut. Well, it looked like this place had a gardener. Maybe I wasn't completely out of luck.

I paused at what seemed to be some sort of gate, and my eyes immediately found the sign.

Rosewater Park.

"Right, sure," I grumbled. _That_ park, of course. Like that was possible. Did that mean if I kept walking, I'd run into a blonde woman wearing a leopard print skirt? Probably not.

This was seriously starting to annoy me. I had been walking for long enough that I could tell I wasn't dreaming, so this had to be a weird coincidence. I just wanted to go home; why did it have to be so goddamn difficult? What kind of freak town was this?

I walked down another set of stairs, my eyes wandering over a few statues as I passed them, and I tried to ignore the increasing uneasiness I felt. Those statues...and this park...

After walking a little further, I found an area that overlooked the lake. I approached the railing, leaning my elbows on to it as I attempted to gather my bearings.

It was okay...things were still okay. I still hadn't made it to the center of town, where all the buildings were. Once I did, I'd definitely find people, if not a pay phone or two. One quick call home, and I'd be able to get out of here.

"Mary?"

I jumped, almost gasping at the sudden voice. I turned around to see a blond man wearing a deep green coat staring at me with an expression of surprise.

Oh, this was _not_ happening.

His face fell when he came closer. "No...you're not Mary."

"Christ, you scared me," I said quietly, crossing my arms. No, that wasn't the right tense...he was still scaring me. I suddenly felt off-balance, like I could pass out at any minute.

He paused, letting out a sigh. "Sorry. For a minute there, I thought you were..." He shook his head. "It's the fog, I guess. Playing tricks on my eyes."

I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to know. "Are you...looking for someone?"

The man immediately nodded, pulling a photograph out of his pocket. "My late wife, Mary. Have you seen her?"

He held the picture out to me, and I stared at it with a cold feeling in my stomach. After a moment, I shook my head.

"N-No..." I paused for a moment, and then frowned at him. "Your late wife. What, you're looking for a body?"

Oh, God, if this went on for much longer...

He looked away. "I...I got a letter from her. I don't know how, but...it was in her handwriting. It said she'd be waiting in our 'special place'..."

"Pretty sketchy," I mumbled, staring at my feet. Blond hair...green coat...was that a _gun_ on his belt? Jesus Christ.

I hesitated again. This was the only person I'd seen since I woke up...

"Look, I don't want to be a burden, but I'm totally lost. Mind if I tag along for a bit? I'll help out if I can," I said.

"...Okay," he said, after a moment, looking at me once more.

I managed a small smile. "Um...I'm Brittany, by the way. Brittany Furness."

"James Sunderland," he replied, nodding. Then he frowned. "Are you all right? You don't look so good."

I was staring at him with a mixture of shock and horror, my insides feeling as if they had frozen solid. I forced myself to look away, instead gazing down at my now-shaking hands.

James Sunderland.

No! It was just a name, it didn't mean anything. It was just a coincidence, all of it.

I crossed my arms once more so that he wouldn't notice my trembling hands.

"I think so. I'm just...a little tired, I think." I forced a laugh, but it came out sounding hoarse. "I've been wandering around this place for an hour. My cell phone's not working, either. I just need to find a pay phone so I can call my mom and get the hell out of here. Have you tried calling the police about Mary?"

He was staring at me like I was crazy. James, the one who was looking for his _dead_ wife.

Coming a little closer, he faltered for a moment, seeming to really look at me now.

"Brittany..." he said quietly, brow furrowed slightly. "...Have you _seen_ this town? Really seen it?"

"Huh?" I blinked. "Not much of it, no...just a locked up building here and there. But what does that have to do with anything?"

James continued to hesitate, and it started to dawn on me that he was trying to be gentle. Gentle, as if his next few words would hurt me in some way. Almost like a doctor about to reveal the bad news to his patient.

"...The entire town's like this," he finally said in a flat voice. "The phones don't work. And..."

"What?" I stared at him. "That doesn't make sense."

"Not a lot of this place does," he murmured, and I tried to pretend I didn't hear him. I tried to forget about the gun, tried not to look at the flecks of blood I was now starting to notice on his jacket.

James finally just shook his head. "...You can come with me. This town...it's not safe. I'm leaving as soon as I find Mary. After that, I can help you get home. Is that all right with you?"

"Y-Yeah...I guess," I replied, still feeling frozen inside. "But...what do you mean, the town isn't safe?"

"Monsters," he answered after a moment's pause, and his abrupt bluntness shocked me into silence.

The word seemed to echo in my head for several moments, a confirmation of what I'd been fearing all along.

Monsters...

James Sunderland.

Silent Hill.

This couldn't be happening to me...

James stared at me for a second, and his gaze seemed to soften. "...You'll see. Or not. Hopefully not."

He looked away, in the direction I had come from. "Anyway, there's somewhere else I think we can look."

"Where's that?" I asked in a small voice, trying to pretend the monsters had never come up.

"The Lakeview Hotel," he answered, gazing out over the lake. "That's the only other special place I can think of."

He turned away, towards the stairs that led to the path out of the park. "Are you coming, then?"

"Yeah," I replied quickly, jogging up to walk next to him.

We walked up the stairs, exiting Rosewater Park...and as we did so, my insides began to thaw. The first hints of fear entered my system, and I fought to push them away.

I was in Silent Hill.

Suddenly and without warning, the fog seemed suffocating.


	3. Eddie and Laura

The town was completely silent, save for the sound of our footsteps echoing on the pavement. After the short conversation we'd had, I couldn't quite bring myself to talk to him again. There was far too much on my mind. I had to organize my thoughts before...before something happened.

I almost shuddered. If this happened exactly the way I thought it would...then the craziness had only just begun. So, what was worse? Staying with James, or being alone in the town? I was too afraid to be alone, now that I knew where I was. But I was sure that tagging along with James was probably the most dangerous thing I could do...

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. After all, Lying Figures and Mannequins had roamed the streets in the game, and yet I hadn't seen a single one since I woke up here.

I paused, almost bumping into James as he stopped. It took me a moment or two to realize why he had stopped—we'd arrived at the destroyed bridge, the one down the road from the Historical Society. This was near the spot where I'd woken up.

James was bending over something. Eh? What was—

"Jesus Christ!" I screeched, backing up in horror.

Stumbling to the edge of the road, I paused to retch for several seconds, almost heaving up my lunch in the process.

Lying in the middle of the road before the dropoff...was a human corpse.

Part of my mind remembered there being a corpse here in the game, but that bloody lump was nothing like this. This was fucking _real._

Its—no, _his_ —eyes were wide open, a blank and staring expression on his face. There were numerous slash marks cutting across his chest, and a huge chunk of flesh was missing from one of his arms. The blood formed an ominous crimson pool around his body. It was still wet; still fresh. This person hadn't been dead for long. Whatever had killed him...was probably still nearby.

This realization almost caused me to start retching again. I bent over slightly, placing a hand over my mouth, anticipating the unpleasant sensation.

A large hand firmly gripped my shoulder. I allowed James to grasp my other shoulder as well, guiding me away from the corpse and the metallic stench of blood. After we had walked for a few minutes, he stopped and turned to me. I still had one hand firmly placed over my mouth.

"Are you all right?" He asked gently. I immediately shook my head.

"Wh-Who could've...?" But, of course, I already knew the answer. I just didn't want to accept it.

James didn't reply; he just continued to stare at me with a very solemn expression. After a moment, I felt my stomach calm down a bit. But the fear hadn't lessened at all.

"How are you not affected by that?!" I snapped, jabbing a finger in the general direction of the corpse. "That was...that was a human body, wasn't it?! Somebody...no...some _thing_ killed that person..."

He was still silent, and I knew why. He had already mentioned monsters. He was just waiting for me to stop my denial.

"We could die here, couldn't we?" I suddenly asked in a small voice. "Oh my God...this is really happening..."

Nothing human could have killed that man. Nothing.

"I won't let anything happen to you," James said quietly. "All right?"

I bit my lip, not quite believing him. How could you protect _anyone_ in Silent Hill when it was hard enough just protecting yourself? Suddenly the town looked as ominous as it felt, and I knew that anything could be hiding in that fog.

"...Okay," I said, but only because he was waiting for an answer. There was nothing I could do to ensure my safety here.

James didn't make any reply, but I could feel him staring at me. He hadn't been here for _that_ long, had he? Long enough to go through the apartment buildings; that's it. How was it that he was so much calmer than me right now? He wasn't exactly in the best state of mind right now, but still...

A crinkling noise caused me to look over in his direction; I noted with a frown that he was smoothing out a yellowed piece of paper. The edge of it was soaked with blood.

"What is that?" I asked in a weak voice, moving closer to him.

"A map," he answered. "I found it on the...I found it."

His effort to censor himself didn't make me feel much better, because it was pretty easy to tell what he'd been about to say. Still, I leaned closer to get a better view. I had already remembered what it was, but I figured I'd give some input for James' benefit.

"The bowling alley's circled," I pointed out, satisfied with the short look I'd taken. Nothing else of interest was on the map; just blood and grime. I couldn't fathom how James had reached over and taken that thing off the corpse; I didn't even want to look at it for a prolonged period of time.

"Hm..." James stared off down the road with a troubled look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No...it's nothing. We should get going; it's the only lead we've got, after all."

"Yeah..." I murmured, taking one final glance in the direction of the destroyed bridge. Only a faded outline was visible through the fog; I couldn't see the corpse from here. I had the sudden idea that if it stood up and walked, we wouldn't see it coming.

No, that was utterly ridiculous. I was letting my imagination run wild.

"...Though I don't see what a bowling alley has to do with anything," I said with a nervous laugh, and started walking. James caught up and took the lead.

"Not much in this town _does_ make sense," he commented quietly.

It fell silent after that, as I wasn't really sure what to say. I thought about the bridge, how it looked like it had been blasted away with some immense force. That wasn't the result of little maintenance and gradual deterioration; something had _destroyed_ that bridge. And the very fact that I couldn't see what that something was disturbed me to no end.

Yes, there was no doubt about it...creatures prowled through this fog. Just because they weren't out in the open like in the game didn't mean they weren't there.

The hair on the back of my neck rose at this thought, and for the first time I noticed how James walked with his hand hovering close to the butt of his gun. He knew. He had known from the beginning.

We walked like that for a little while, lapsing back into familiar silence. Despite my paranoia, we didn't run into anything during our trek. Our only company was the endless fog and the lurking possibility of danger.

After a few more minutes had passed, a low rumbling met my ears. My body tensed for a moment, before I registered the fact that it was the car from before. I could see the shadow of it through the fog, the car with the metal pipe jutting out of its hood. A cloud of black exhaust flowed from its tailpipe, mingling with the haze before dissipating.

James approached the car, eyeing it warily; anything suspicious here could easily mean trouble.

"I passed by that thing earlier," I said, standing at a distance. "I don't know how the hell it got like that."

He spared me a glance, nodding, and then walked up to the pipe. Experimentally placing a hand on it, he hesitated for a brief moment before yanking it out with a grunt.

As I expected it to, the car sputtered for a moment before its engine died. Just like that, we were plunged into silence once more.

Keeping a firm grip on the pipe, James walked around either side of the car and gazed through its windows. It only took him a few seconds to discern that there was nothing of interest for us here.

He returned to my side, and I wasn't surprised when he held out the pipe.

"Here," he said solemnly. "You should probably hold on to this."

I took it without a word. It seemed like the look of pure dread in my eyes was enough of a response for him, because he turned and gestured for me to follow.

Matching his pace, I gripped the metal pipe tightly. It was slightly rusted, but it seemed sturdy enough. It was around three feet long, just like the game had described it, and just the right weight for me to carry around. I hoped I wouldn't have to use it.

In a matter of seconds, we were standing in front of a large and familiar building. The main sign, as well as various fliers taped around the building, confirmed that this was in fact Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. James held the door open for me and I slipped inside, careful to keep the pipe from banging on the doorframe. I wasn't sure whose attention I would catch if I made a loud noise; I didn't really want to find out.

We slipped through the first door we came to, though I knew the one at the end of the hall would be locked. The door took us into some sort of supply closet slash employee's lounge. One end of the room was full of clutter, and another part contained an old looking sofa and a coffee table. It was a bit different in here than I remembered.

James immediately began an investigation of the room, his eyes scanning over every nook and cranny. It struck me as morbidly amusing for a moment, and I had to fight the urge to laugh. His actions seemed strange, but it was exactly what I always _made_ him do when I played the game. There was no way to get through Silent Hill without meticulous investigation. On my first playthrough of Silent Hill 3, I had gotten completely stuck just because I had missed picking up a coat hanger, of all things.

Deciding to give him a hand, I started to look around as well, even though I knew there was nothing of value in this room. Strange...wasn't something supposed to happen here? We were supposed to hear Eddie and Laura talking, but everything was pretty quiet right now.

I almost jumped when I saw sudden movement to my left; it took me a moment to realize that I was just seeing my reflection in a dusty mirror on the wall.

Strange. I was in hell, and yet I didn't even look affected. My long, curly brown hair was slightly messy from lying unconscious on the lake's shore, and my skin was a little paler than usual, but other than that I looked pretty normal. My AC/DC t-shirt looked a little out of place, though.

I smiled to myself, a little nervously, and suddenly the intensity of my own brown eyes unnerved me. I had the feeling that someone else was staring back at me through that mirror.

The sound of James approaching broke me out of my reverie, and I turned away with a jerk. Nothing had been there...my paranoia was getting to me again.

"There isn't anything here," I remarked with a shrug, trying to hide the fact that I'd just had a minor episode.

He nodded, opening his mouth to say something, but then he paused. "...Do you smell that?"

My lips tugged down in a slight frown. "Yeah." I was glad I wasn't hungry, because the distinct smell of pizza was suddenly in the air.

"But how..." James trailed off, because suddenly we heard voices.

" _So what'd you do? Robbery, murder?"_

A little girl's voice...that was definitely Laura.

" _Nah, nothing like that,"_ Eddie's muffled voice came. I shuddered; we would have to kill him later, wouldn't we?

" _Hah! You're nothin' but a gutless fatso!"_ Laura scoffed.

At this point, James and I exchanged glances. He nodded to me, approaching the second door out of this room.

" _Whadda you have to say that for?"_ Eddie asked, a hint of a whine in his tone.

" _I thought you said the cops were after you."_

" _No, I ran 'cause I was scared. I don't know what the cops are doing."_

Eddie...I wished we didn't have anything to do with him. Most of the other people we'd meet in this town would be more dangerous than helpful.

Speaking of which...where the hell was Maria? Sure, she was just a figment of James' imagination, but still...it didn't look like he'd seen anyone like her around.

" _But if you did something bad, why didn't you say you were sorry?"_ Laura asked innocently, her normally bratty tone fading for a moment. Then she seemed to hesitate.

" _Well...I guess I run away a lots too,"_ she admitted.

" _It's no good. They wouldn't listen. Nobody will ever forgive me."_

I had to abandon my troubling train of thought about Maria, because James had opened the door to the next room. I followed in shortly after; we walked out from behind the counter, approaching where Eddie sat.

Almost instantly, I didn't like him. Maybe my impression was influenced by my prior knowledge of him, but I had a feeling I wouldn't like him either way. He was overweight and sitting slightly hunched over; his almost childish clothing style and his very posture hinted at the insecurity buried within him. I could see sweat stains on his back and under his arms, and the dirty blond hair that showed from beneath his cap looked about as greasy as the pizza he was eating.

And he wondered why people picked on him...okay, maybe that was a bit of a cruel thought. I had an itching feeling that that kind of thinking would get my brains blown out later on.

"Eddie," James said, getting the man's attention.

Eddie looked turned and looked at us over one shoulder, squinting at the light coming from James' pocket flashlight. James reached up and turned it off.

"Oh...um, yer..."

"James. We met in the apartment building," James said. He gestured to me after a moment. "This is Brittany."

"Yeah, uh...nice to meet'cha," Eddie said awkwardly, staring at me.

I didn't care much for the way he looked at me; I wasn't sure why, but his eyes seemed to darken at the sight of me. Maybe he sensed the dislike I had for him. Hopefully it was just my imagination acting up again.

James frowned when Eddie didn't say anything more. "...Are you alone here, Eddie?"

"Um, no..." Eddie said after a second, and the upward inflection he placed on the last word betrayed his hesitation.

I watched a green bowling ball roll towards us, and we all looked up to see Laura standing near the door.

"Bye-bye!" She said, smirking as if this was some sort of game. With that, she slipped out the door.

"Wait! Come back!" James called, but to no avail. He ran forward a few steps, then turned to look at Eddie. "Eddie! Aren't you coming?"

"Huh? Go after Laura? But why...?"

"Laura? Is that her name?" James asked.

"That's what she said," Eddie said with a shrug, before taking another bite of his pizza slice.

James' eyes narrowed with frustration and anger, and he turned to Eddie once more.

"This town is full of monsters! How can you just-"

"James, forget about it," I interrupted him, feeling uncomfortable in Eddie's presence. "We're going to lose her if we stick around."

I tried to ignore his statement about the monsters, and how every single word uttered here was almost identical to what had been said in the game. I had the distinct feeling of being trapped, and had to shake it off.

After a second, James nodded and gestured for me to follow him. He cast a final glare of disapproval at Eddie before we ran out the door together.

"Damn," James muttered as we emerged out into the fog once more. I understood how he felt; it would be near-impossible to find someone in this setting. It was difficult to even see shadows.

Shit, how _were_ we going to find Laura? Maria had helped James out in the game, but I obviously wouldn't have the keys to the back door of Heaven's Night. But since Maria never actually existed, maybe the door would be unlocked? Still, I thought she had been a manifestation of the town, so...

For the first time, I did _not_ appreciate how puzzling everything here was. I had been under the impression that every person who entered Silent Hill in the second game saw a different version of it. Why, then, did I see the town _exactly_ the way James saw it? The monsters that James saw were physical manifestations of the different aspects of his psyche; theoretically, I shouldn't be able to see them. But I had the feeling that I would soon enough...

"There!" James said abruptly, as we saw a shadow disappear around the corner.

We ran after her, but I couldn't tell if we were even close because of the fog. After passing through the gate to a chain link fence, we started jogging down the alley towards the strip club.

"Who the hell _is_ that girl?" I asked, simply because it would look suspicious if I started talking about her like I knew her.

"I don't know," James replied. "But she knows something about Mary. We have to find her!"

It didn't take long for us to reach the dead end, and for James to discover that there was no way we could follow her through the crack between buildings. I took a peek myself to see if I could slip through, but immediately shook my head. I was claustrophobic, and I'd probably have a panic attack if I got stuck in there.

"Maybe there's a way through here," James remarked, approaching the door to Heaven's Night. He reached out and tried the doorknob; I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach when the door didn't open.

"No good," James muttered. "It's locked."

Well, that was it. Our progress had come to a screeching halt, and now we were stuck here. There was no other way to Brookhaven Hospital; the road next to the bowling alley was blocked off, and I was pretty sure the opposite end of that road was blocked as well. Besides, I really didn't want to trek through the apartments just to check that last option.

"Well, any other ideas?" I asked, walking up to his side. However, when I approached the door, it swung open a bit.

I raised my eyebrows, frowning. "...Locked, huh?" I glanced over at James, who looked bewildered.

"But I just—" He faltered, reaching out and trying the doorknob again. It turned easily. "...Never mind."

"Okay then," I mumbled, shrugging. But I couldn't help but feel troubled. I had heard the doorknob rattle when James tried it the first time; it _had_ been locked. So why...?

Giving up, I pulled the door open fully and we slipped inside. James turned on his flashlight, and the room was dimly illuminated. There wasn't really anything of interest, except for a few crates that I suspected contained alcohol. After giving the area a cursory glance, James trudged up the stairs, with me following closely behind.

The first door we tried led to the main room of the strip club. As I remembered, there was a bar on one wall, while the stage was almost directly in front of us. I noted with mild amusement that James looked a little uncomfortable. Probably because I was here with him, and I didn't exactly parade myself around like Maria tended to do.

"A strip club. Awesome," I remarked sarcastically, and then glanced over at the bar. "I could seriously use a drink right now."

"I don't think now is the time," James said, seeming to relax a little. "Besides, you're underage."

"Sorry, Dad," I smirked slightly, before walking further into the room and looking around. I felt a lot more comfortable here, oddly enough; it was probably because this had been a monster-free area in the game.

"Any sign of her?" James asked after a moment. "If the door was unlocked, she might've gone through here."

"For the sake of her psychological well-being, I should hope not," I remarked, looking up at the nude posters on the wall with raised eyebrows.

"There's another door over there," I reluctantly said after a moment, pointing to it. "We'd might as well move on."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Let's go."

Next stop, Brookhaven Hospital...and I knew my nightmare had only just begun.


	4. Enter Brookhaven Hospital

We exited out the other door to the club, heading down the staircase and moving through the short alleyway. It wasn't long before we were out on the street again. Since the road was blocked off to our left, we turned right. I could already see the outline of Brookhaven through the fog. Oh, God...why did it have to be so close?

Brookhaven Hospital. Even in the game, it had been my own personal hell. Silent Hill 2 had been the first I'd ever played of the series, so I hadn't anticipated having to go through the whole building twice. Now I had played through the place so many times that it was a breeze to me, but I had a feeling it wouldn't make any difference once I set foot in there.

My only advantage was that I had the layout of the hospital memorized...that was, if it didn't randomly change on me. Silent Hill seemed to like doing that every time you built up a sense of self-confidence.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I gripped the pipe tightly. Part of me wished James had forked over the gun, but I would probably have ended up shooting him in an attempt to kill a monster.

James started. "Did you see that? I think that was her!" He said, looking to me for a minute, and then back in the direction of the hospital.

Although I hadn't seen anything due to my inattention, I immediately nodded. "Yeah, she was definitely heading in there. Let's go."

We ran forward, the hospital looming closer and closer with our every step. The mere outline of it slowly grew more defined, until I could see windows that were boarded over from the inside. My stomach lurched sickeningly as I continued to notice how this was _exactly_ the way I remembered it.

In a few seconds, we were standing in front of the pathway that led to the doors.

James frowned, reading the sign. "Brookhaven Hospital..."

The doors were right there. This was the moment of truth; I knew for sure that those damned nurses were in that hospital, waiting. I experienced one last, wild feeling of hope and desperation; maybe I wouldn't see them, maybe they wouldn't exist in _my_ Silent Hill!

I hadn't done anything wrong. James had killed Mary, Angela had killed her father, and Eddie was a total nutcase. Laura was innocent, and she just saw a normal town, didn't she? Just like I did! I had to be like Laura. I wasn't _like_ the others. There was no reason for me to be here!

James was walking toward the doors. He turned on his flashlight in anticipation of the coming darkness, and opened the door. I followed him very closely as we moved into the musty gloom of the hospital.

We weren't three steps into the building when the radio exploded into static, and my heart stopped.

A single figure met the flashlight's beam. It stood stock still in the brightness, its shadow exaggerated and about as disfigured as the creature itself. All I could hear was the static and the thing's wet, ragged breathing.

I couldn't move. A terror more thick and suffocating than the fog outside had settled over me, and even breathing took a conscious effort.

Bubble Head Nurse.

It stared at us; though I couldn't quite make out eyes through the folds of flesh on its face, I had the very distinct feeling that it knew we were there. The nurse held a pipe quite similar to my own, and I could see that it was caked with something I couldn't bring myself to describe. Its head was tilted as if in inquiry, but the unnatural angle at which it was tilted suggested a broken neck.

My dumbstruck examination was cut short as the nurse lurched forward, sending my train of thought to a screeching halt. It let out a low gurgling sound in reaction to our presence and its head bobbed with every clumsy step, the neck set at a sickening right angle to the body.

The monster was alarmingly close, and the next few seconds were a blur. James had pulled out the handgun without my realizing, and was now firing shots into the creature. I was choking on my own fear. All I could do was fall backwards against the doors, watching in complete shock as the top of the nurse's head was blown off. I watched the thing's bloodstained hat fall to the floor, felt the flecks of gore hit me and slide down my skin.

It let out a single, bloodcurdling shriek before falling to the ground and flailing wildly; James hurriedly strode up to it and delivered a final blow with his foot, smashing whatever was left that was keeping it alive. And then all was still once more.

My stomach seemed to curl in on itself. I pulled in a long, shaking breath of air, before slamming through the doors and plunging back outside into the fog. Tripping down the stairs, I quickly fell to my knees and vomited into the grass.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't seem to stop. I heard the nurse's wet breathing in my mind, the sound of the gunshots firing, bullets tearing through rotting flesh. Tears streamed down my face. What the hell had I just seen?!

Hands on my shoulders. No, I didn't want him near me, he was a part of this madness. I was trapped in James' nightmare, and it was all his fault! Why, why...

"Get away," I choked, coughing up bile. He didn't budge; he just squeezed my shoulders lightly. An attempt to comfort me? Bullshit! This was his fault! He got me into this mess! If he hadn't killed his fucking wife...

"Don't touch me!" I snapped, shoving him away. He backed off, putting his hands up slowly to show that he wasn't about to approach again. Shivering, I retched a few more times, sobbing and barely able to breathe.

After a few minutes I finally fell quiet, disgusted with the taste in my mouth and with my utter vulnerability. But I couldn't comprehend what I had just seen. If I accepted it, that meant I really was stuck here with James. This wasn't a version of Silent Hill crafted for me, because I had no major sins to repent for. This was James' mind, James' purgatory, and my reason for being here made no difference. I was just as damned as he was.

That was a Bubble Head Nurse I had seen, and it had been identical to its counterparts in the game. There were more of them in that hospital, and they were going to do their best to kill the two of us.

I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. The pipe was still clutched in my right hand. I had a weapon, and those things could be killed. Even if we didn't have Health Drinks to magically heal wounds, I still had a chance at living, and I was going to take it. I wasn't going to die here, not like this. What had I done to deserve this hell?!

"Brittany..." James murmured hesitantly.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out, gritting my teeth against the tears that threatened to come. "I'm sorry, I...I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I'm just...oh God, I'm so scared..."

"I know," he said softly in reply, and held a hand out to help me up.

Grasping his hand and letting him pull me to my feet, I attempted to compose myself. I wanted to get away from the smell of my vomit; it was making me feel sick again. But to go back in _there,_ see that thing again...

James reached into the small pack he carried—I noticed for the first time that this was a deviation from the game—and drew out, to my surprise, a bottle of Poland Spring. Unscrewing the cap, he offered it to me. I grabbed it and took a long drink, before remembering that clean water might be limited around here. Giving him a hesitant but grateful smile, I handed the bottle back to him.

"Feeling better?" He asked me after a few seconds. I wondered if he resented how I was holding him back, but I found myself unable to read his expression.

I laughed without humor, feeling utterly helpless. "No. But I don't think I have anything left to throw up, at least."

"I'm sorry." Apparently now it was his turn to apologize. He sighed, gazing out in the direction of the road. "I don't know why this town brought you here...but I don't mean to drag you into this."

"I...don't really have any other option, do I?" I said, gripping the pipe tightly. "I can't just wait outside...it's not safe out here, either." I remembered the corpse we'd seen.

"I won't let those things hurt you," James said, his blue eyes sincere.

I averted my gaze. He couldn't promise me anything, not in this place. As much as I wanted to believe him, as much as I wanted to place my faith in him...I couldn't. I'd never survive here if I relied on him to protect me.

"What _was_ that...that..." I trailed off, desperate, but already knowing the answer. Maybe I was stalling. Even I couldn't tell at this point.

He shook his head, looking back at the hospital doors. "I don't know. But Laura's in there."

"Yeah," I nodded weakly, and bit my lip hard. I really, really didn't want to go back in there...

He didn't say anything in reply, simply watching me. It took me a minute or so of slow, heavy breathing to gather my resolve. Grasping the comforting metal of the pipe with both hands, I let out one final breath.

"All right," I said quietly. "I'm ready...as ready as I'm gonna get."

James nodded, and we headed back for the doors. This was it...one last breath before the inevitable plunge.

We opened the doors, and the hospital swallowed us up once more.

The smell of blood instantly hit me. Despite the fact that I had already emptied my stomach, I almost started retching again. The body of the nurse, thankfully, was unmoving. It was dead, without a doubt. I realized with quite a bit of discomfort that we would have to go around the corpse in order to continue onward.

"Listen," James murmured solemnly to me, looking over to make sure I was all right. "When they're close by, the radio acts up." He indicated the radio he carried, and I nodded in understanding.

The static...it was both a blessing and a curse. Instead of providing a sense of reassurance, it only caused my stomach to lurch at the prospect of impending danger. Every time I heard static...those things would be coming for us.

James began to move forward, towards the body of the nurse.

"Hold up," I said weakly, and he looked back at me. I reached up to the bulletin board on the wall to my left, tugging at the map that I knew was there.

He blinked, and then came over to pull off the map and examine it. After a moment, he folded it up, satisfied.

"Good," he said with a nod. "We're probably going to need that."

"Any idea where we should look?" I asked feebly, wanting to stall our progress.

James frowned. "Anywhere, I guess...I don't know what a little girl would want to do in a hospital."

Unable to come up with any other reasons to hang around in one spot, I pulled in yet another breath, letting it out slowly in an attempt to calm my nerves. The only way I could think of to get out of this hell was to follow James through it. If I ensured that he survived through this and learned what he was meant to learn, he might be able to leave the town peacefully and take me with him.

So in a way, stalling was only prolonging the nightmare. If I could just tough it out...

Gripping the pipe, I stepped forward and looked around. The bobbing of the light behind me indicated that James was following. We moved to step around the body of the nurse, which did not twitch or revive itself as I'd irrationally feared.

I headed to the first place I always headed to in the game—the reception office. As expected, the door was unlocked. I pulled it open, and it led to a very dusty but familiar room.

Moving to the side to let James in, I turned to examine everything in the room. As I remembered, there were a few bookcases lining the walls, as well as a desk near the center of the room. I sifted through some of the papers on the desk, but all I could find was a bunch of records and medical jargon.

"Patient records..." James muttered, examining some of the papers himself. His brow was furrowed slightly.

"Well, this is a hospital," I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He shook his head. "Look."

Frowning, I moved to his side and leaned in to examine the paper he was holding.

_[Joseph Barkin]_

_His illness seems to be rooted in the fact that he believes he is guilty for causing his daughter's death. His symptoms suggest a psychotic break and paranoid delusions. Normally calm, but has a tendency toward violence when excited._

Ah, good ol' Joseph. Who could forget that crazy box of his? James didn't seem to realize we would soon be very acquainted with this man and his insanity.

"Huh," I shrugged. "So what's your point?"

He shuffled through some other papers, showing me the files of Joshua Lewis and Jack Davis, as well as some other patients.

"Don't you notice a trend?" He asked, looking troubled.

"They're all batshit?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. "Yeah, I got that." Then, after a second, I nodded. "Oh...I see what you're driving at."

"We're in a mental hospital," James said, confirming what I already knew.

"What a surprise," I said sarcastically. "But what would Laura want to do in a friggin' mental hospital?"

James sighed, turning to the next door. "Come on. I don't think there's anything else in here."

Nodding, I followed him into the next room, which was more cramped than the one before. I found myself coughing because of the sheer amount of dust in the air. It looked like this place had been abandoned for a while.

There wasn't much else in this room, either, besides the key we'd need later on. James took notice of this instantly, leaning over to examine the items on the desk next to the typewriter. Really, who used a typewriter nowadays anyway? If I hadn't already known that this town was practically on a separate plane of existence, I really would think that no one had been here for years.

"Look at this," James gestured to me, and I moved to lean over his shoulder.

This time it was the journal left by the doctor, a typed report on what he called "the other side." A place that lies on the borders where reality and unreality intersect...a place where the patient mentioned could be happy. But if the doctor was speaking of the place I was thinking of, how could anyone possibly be happy there? If everything that happened in this town really was the invention of our own minds...was it possible to create a place where we could be happy?

But to live your life in a delusion...even that would be hell, wouldn't it.

James seemed about as deep in thought as me. I wondered what he was thinking.

"The other side..." he murmured.

"It's being invaded by the Otherworld," I muttered. "A world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life."

"What?" James glanced over at me, frowning deeply. "What does that mean?"

I immediately shook my head, startled; I hadn't even realized I'd said it aloud.

"Just something I read somewhere," I replied with a shrug.

When he continued to look troubled, I stepped beside him and searched for a way to divert the attention from myself. I found it quickly enough.

"'I got the key from Joseph,'" I read, placing a finger over where the writing was. "'It's probably the key to that box.' Hey, wasn't Joseph one of those patients we read about?"

"I think so," James said, reaching down to pick up the Purple Bull Key. "...We should probably hang on to this."

"Might as well," I agreed.

After a few more seconds of examination, we were able to discern that there wasn't anything else worth looking at in the room. Oh...that meant we'd have to go back out into the hall, where the monsters lurked. Shit.

To my relief, the radio didn't act up when we headed back out the door to the reception office. The body of the nurse was still there, and so was the lingering stench of blood. But it was dead, just a pile of flesh. It couldn't hurt us.

My morbid curiosity got the better of me. I had to step forward and examine the thing more closely.

I saw James hesitate from the corner of my eye, as if he wanted to stop me. Maybe it would be better if he did. Regardless, I looked down at the nurse, cautiously nudging its head with my foot.

Instead of screeching and grabbing at me as I'd been fearing, its head simply lolled to one side. Dead, most definitely dead. I had so much trouble accepting it. How could such a thing have been living in the first place?

"...What _is_ it?" I whispered, staring at its destroyed face. "Is it human? _Was_ it human?"

"I don't know," James said from behind me. "I hope not. I can't imagine having to exist like that."

Unable to stand looking at the gore anymore, I turned away. "Yeah...there's no reason to dwell on it. Let's just get this over with..."

The rest of the doors on the first floor were either locked or broken. There was nothing else to examine down here. It only took James a few minutes to determine this fact, and upon discovering that the elevator was unusable, we headed immediately for the stairwell.

The stairs were as dark as the rest of the hospital; without James' flashlight, we'd probably be walking in pitch darkness. We walked up the first flight, and I felt the familiar sensation of panic resurfacing when the sound of static grew with every step. There were monsters ahead.

We stopped at the first door we came to. It was marked with the label '2F'.

James hesitated with his hand on the knob, looking back at me. "...Ready?"

I was sure that the way I blanched said otherwise, but I nodded nonetheless. He turned his attention back to the door, his other hand pulling out the gun. I held my pipe as if it were a lifeline.

The door opened outwards, and for one horrifying second it partially obscured our view of the hallway ahead. But then that second was over, and we were out in the hall, and the sound of feminine moans and shrieks surrounded us. One on either side of us. Oh, Christ.

Flashes of light illuminated the nurse I faced as James shot at the one behind me. I watched with an almost sick fascination as the thing's body twitched and convulsed, as it took a shuddering step in my direction. Fresh terror bloomed in the pit of my stomach at the close proximity to this creature. I could see every detail of it, from the pale skin of its shapely legs to the dark shadow of the veins running down through its partially exposed breasts. It was a horrid mockery of a human woman.

I was broken out of my reverie as the nurse abruptly swung the pipe it held, and I barely managed to dodge. I felt adrenaline start to kick in as I heard the blunt weapon whistle just past my ear. All it would take was one blow to the head—one blow to the head, and it could very well kill me.

But that fact would apply to that thing, too, wouldn't it? Without a second thought, I retaliated and swung my own pipe like a baseball bat. The nurse let out a wild scream as my weapon connected with its head. I felt a sickening crunch, and knew I had smashed its skull. Blood sprayed in a frantic gush.

I paused, trembling, as the nurse stumbled back into the wall. Its spasms continued for a moment or two, but then I nearly let out a scream as it suddenly lunged for me again. How the hell was it still standing?!

Almost as a reflex, I immediately swung my pipe again, this time hitting the nurse on the shoulder. I swung again and again, feeling body parts break beneath my weapon, ignoring the nurse's almost human screams. My own grunts hardly even seemed human to me, and it felt as if I'd connected with some sort of primal instinct within me; even after the creature fell to the ground, I continued to swing.

Even after its flailing died down, I swung and swung, until I heard the wet smack of the pipe on destroyed and bloody flesh. Stepping forward, I kicked the corpse hard to ensure that it was indeed a corpse.

When I noticed how quiet it was, and realized that the horror was over, I heard myself let out a small whimper. I backed away from the body and nearly screamed when I ran into James.

"Shh," James murmured in an attempt to calm me down. "It's all right. It's over."

"I know," I said shakily, staring at the gore that covered my pipe. "I know."


	5. Horrifying Realization

"Nngh…I'm sorry, James."

I had the shakes, and it was going to take me a few minutes to calm down. Rather than letting me collapse in the middle of the hallway where we were vulnerable, he had taken me to the closest open room he could find. I was currently sitting in a chair, the palm of one hand pressed against my forehead.

Killing the nurse had been bad enough, but I had seen it happen before. I really would've been okay after a few seconds. What really got me, though…was the blood spatter now drying on my clothes. I looked like I had just committed a mass murder. The smell of gore was nauseating and now I couldn't just leave it behind.

"Don't worry about it," James said quietly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I looked up and stared at him helplessly, before turning my head to gaze around the room. Attempting such an action before had made me dizzy, but now I was relatively okay. Well, that was a step.

The room was a little bit cramped, but I was able to recognize it even though James' form was blocking my view. Those were lockers behind him. And the desk I was sitting next to…

"Ow!" James winced, recoiling from something.

"You all right?" I asked dully, reaching out to grab the teddy bear he'd touched.

"…Yeah," he replied, frowning. I plucked out the bent needle, dropping it in his hand. He took a moment to examine it, shaking his head.

"What's a needle doing in a place like that?" James wondered aloud.

I shrugged. "What's a teddy bear doing here in the first place?"

Holding the bear in my hands, I examined it. It was a cute thing, though it looked relatively old and dusty. I'd been half expecting there to be blood smeared around its mouth like Robbie the Rabbit; the bear had a missing eye, but at least that was a little less ominous.

"Maybe it belongs to Laura," James suggested quietly.

"In that case, I'd tell her to stop playing with bent needles," I replied, dismissing the idea. I dropped the bear back on to the desk, where it fell limply to one side. "Well, whatever… I didn't see her carrying it, so I wouldn't worry about it."

The blond didn't reply, but I was sure I would have seen a nod of assent if I had been looking at him. From the corner of my eye, I saw him pull up the only other chair in the room and take a seat.

"Are you feeling any better?" James asked after a moment, looking at me.

Feeling guilty, I forced myself to meet his eyes. "…Yeah," I lied. Holding him back wouldn't do either of us any good.

He looked away. "Let's wait here for a few more minutes. I'm a little tired, too."

At that, I couldn't help but send him a grateful look. He wouldn't have lied if he hadn't been concerned about me. I still didn't want to hold him back, but knowing he didn't mind having me around comforted me a great deal. He was the only human being around here I was willing to trust, after all.

"…You think we're really safe hiding away here?" I asked after we were quiet for a moment.

He nodded. "For the most part. They can't smell you when you're in a different room."

"I sure hope so," I muttered, suppressing a shudder. Then another thought came to me, and curiosity pushed most of the fear to the back of my mind. "Where is this place, anyway?"

James frowned at me. "What do you mean?"

"Silent Hill," I explained. "What state are we even in?"

"New Hampshire," he replied, giving me a strange look. "You didn't know?"

"Jesus Christ." I shook my head, shocked. Hundreds of miles away from home… "I didn't really think…how the hell…?"

"Brittany." James' voice cut me off, snapping me out of my mumblings. "Where are you from?"

"New York," I said quietly. "Upstate. Near Lake Ontario."

The man fell into silence at that, the shock on his face seeming to reflect my own.

"I didn't come here on a road trip," I said in a flat voice. "I woke up on the shore of the lake. Last thing I remember, I was driving home from school. For a while I thought maybe I had taken a wrong turn, but…"

"That couldn't be possible," James finished for me, a thoughtful look on his face.

"My car's gone, and how I ended up unconscious is a mystery to me…" I gave up, sighing.

New Hampshire…so that was where this town was. It was kind of funny; before all this, if I had found out about any town named Silent Hill, I would've wanted to visit just for kicks. So I could tell all of my friends that I'd vacationed in Silent Hill. So I could jokingly claim that I'd met Heather at the amusement park, and that I'd stayed in James' room at the hotel.

Well, if I ever made it home, I could most likely make the latter claim. I probably wouldn't find it as amusing, though. Funny how life works sometimes.

"This town is a vacation spot," James said, following my train of thought without realizing it. "…Well, it used to be."

"You came here before?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

He nodded. "With Mary. It was a lot nicer then."

"I'll bet," I agreed. "Are you from around here?"

"Hampton. It's further south."

"Near the Maine border," I said, smiling slightly. "I've been there a million times."

"Hampton Beach?" Now James smiled, too. "Nice place, but it gets old when you live right down the street."

"I'd take Hampton over this place any day." I grinned, but then it faded soon after. This place. We were still stuck here, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

James probably saw my face fall, because he looked over his shoulder in the direction of the door. He turned back to me, sobering. "As soon as we're done here…"

"I don't need to be told twice," I said, seeing the slight guilt in his eyes. "Besides…it's not like I could just walk out if I wanted to. If people could enter and leave this place freely, the whole world would know about it."

He shook his head slowly. "…Sometimes I wonder if this is all just some crazy dream."

That nearly caused me to shudder. In a way, he was sort of right…half of this wasn't even real, was it? It was all in his head, but somehow it could still hurt him…agh, Silent Hill was always confusing. Rather than puzzling over the details of it, I decided to just glare at him.

"Jaaames," I sang, leaning forward to pinch the back of his hand. "I'm real. _Real."_

"Ow," he said, recoiling the same way he had with the teddy bear. Holding his hands up in defeat, he said, "Okay, I got it."

I smiled, satisfied. "Good. Either way, I think we—"

_Feel how warm I am._

_I'm here for you, James. See? I'm real._

"Brittany?" James was watching me, puzzled. "What is it?"

"…Oh, ah, nothing," I said, feeling off-balance for a moment. "I just spaced out for a minute there."

Screw you, Maria. I _was_ real. I might not have had any place here, but I knew that much. I was just stuck in a video game. I was more real than this place.

"Anyway…" I steeled my resolve, knowing we'd already spent long enough here. At least I felt a lot better now. "Why don't we check out this room? Is there anything else interesting?" If I remembered right, it was in one of these locker rooms…

James stood up, and I did the same. He walked around for a second or two, trying the lockers.

"Looks like they're lock—" He stopped abruptly when he opened the final locker and a shotgun fell out, clattering on to the floor.

I couldn't stop myself from jumping at the sudden noise, but a rush of a feeling I couldn't quite define went through me. More weapons. More protection. Those were my survival instincts kicking in again, I could tell.

"A shotgun in a hospital," I commented with a pleased little smile. "If I hadn't already seen the nurses around here, I'd think this was strange."

Apparently James didn't mind having an extra weapon or two either, because he was smiling a bit as well. He never really smiled a full smile, I noticed. In fact, James wasn't much for expressions at all. He wandered Silent Hill in a state of abnormal calm. Then again, he obviously wasn't in his normal state of mind; he'd just killed his wife not too long ago. Even if the memory of it was suppressed, he had to sense something was very wrong. I could see it in his somber eyes.

He bent down, picking up the gun and slinging it over one shoulder with a strap that was attached to it. Then he turned to me, pulling the handgun from his belt.

"You think you can shoot a gun?" He asked, though I could tell he wasn't expecting much.

I raised my eyebrows. "Depends. Are you any good at dodging bullets?"

Surprisingly enough, I managed to get another smile out of him at that. Well, it looked like surly ol' James did have a sense of humor somewhere in there.

"Fair enough," he said, but pushed the gun into my hand regardless. "We're about on the same level."

"No experience at all?" I asked curiously.

"I went to a shooting range once," he said, causing me to snort.

"We're just a couple of clueless people in way over our heads, aren't we?" I murmured, shaking my head.

The minute the words left my mouth, I instantly regretted it. We were suddenly reminded of where we were, and the danger we were in. My heart rate increased, James went back to being morose, and the thick tension settled in so quickly that it seemed as if it had never left.

"…I'll take the pipe," he said, "if you're willing to use the handgun."

I didn't answer, but handed the weapon to him willingly enough. In the back of my mind, I was remembering something. The handgun was the best weapon to use against the nurses. The pipe was effective, but it put you in range of an attack. The gun, though…

But was James being in more danger any better? No…James was better at this than I was. Besides, he survived in the game, right?

I lifted the gun in my hands, staring at it with a kind of fearful respect. I had never held a gun in my life…and this one was loaded. Death at my fingertips. The handgun was a relatively weak weapon in-game, but after seeing James in action with it, I had a hard time believing that.

"Hey…" I said tentatively, turning the weapon over. "How do I…?"

"Here." James was fumbling around in his pack. I heard some jingling, and no, it wasn't spare change in there. What he pulled out was several packs of bullets, and now he was handing them to me. I didn't know if they would all fit in my pockets, but I guess it would be a good idea for me to carry some.

He took the gun from me and showed me how to eject and load the magazine, as well as the correct firing stance; of course, he couldn't exactly demonstrate, but I got the idea. It wasn't like he was a professional, either. He was probably just telling me what he learned in that shooting range he went to. I hoped that visit had been recent. I didn't want to have some crazy accident with this gun…though I guess that was unavoidable.

Once James was relatively confident that I at least somewhat knew what I was doing with the gun, we decided to continue onward. I had shoved fifteen bullets in each pocket; since the gun held ten rounds, that meant I had forty in total. I continuously told myself not to lose track of that number. James carried more in his bag, but I didn't exactly want to run out in the middle of a conflict. Hell, just reloading the magazine for me would take at least thirty seconds. I had to make the ten shots count.

We left the locker room, heading out into a silent hallway. The first door we tried was directly across the hall, and the label beside the door read 'Men's Locker Room – Staff Only.' It was unlocked and we let ourselves in.

There wasn't much to see in this room besides lockers. There was a poster of a woman in a skimpy bikini taped to the inside of one locker door, but I only saw James give it a cursory glance before moving on. Good boy, James.

It looked like something else had caught his eye. Well, there was one thing in this room that kind of stuck out. It was a bloody looking lab coat, hung up on the corner of a locker door. James was frowning at it. He seemed ready to move on, so I walked up and instantly reached in the pocket. My hand met cold metal—bingo.

"Voila," I said, dangling the key in the air for him to see. Then I looked more closely at the tag. "It says 'Exam Room.' Any idea where that is?"

James pulled out the map, examining it for a few seconds. Then he folded it back up, turning to me. "First floor. It's next to that reception office we went into."

"Should we go?" I asked hopefully.

"Let's finish this floor first."

Damn. My face fell, and I forced myself to take a deep breath. The hallways just outside of this door were quiet, but…that long hallway across from the stairwell would be a different story, if my memory served me right.

I stuck the key in my left pocket, waiting by the door as James finished his investigation of the small room. When he was satisfied, we headed back out into the hall.

The hallway actually wasn't as quiet as it seemed at first. Though the radio wasn't really acting up, I could hear sounds coming from elsewhere in the hospital. For the most part, it was the occasional feminine scream. My arms broke out in goosebumps.

There was also the faint sound of breathing coming from somewhere, but I couldn't exactly figure that one out. There were a lot of sounds in the game that existed for the sole purpose of being scary, and weren't related to anything at all. I had a feeling things wouldn't be quite the same here. This wasn't some sort of thrill ride.

We stayed close to each other as we walked cautiously down the hallway, listening carefully for any sign of danger. All of the doors we came to were jammed or locked.

"The elevator's not working either," James said with a frown.

"I don't know if I'd be willing to trust an elevator in this place," I said honestly with a shudder.

All of the elevators in Silent Hill 2 were safe for some odd reason…but I still didn't trust them here. Hell, if a monster waltzed up and cut the cables, we'd plummet to our deaths. And a very informative Mythbusters episode had shown me that you couldn't save yourself in a plummeting elevator car by jumping up before you hit the ground, which meant we would in fact be very screwed. Damn physics.

James seemed to agree with my remark. He turned away from the elevator door, shining his flashlight towards where the entrance to the Day Room was.

A stark white figure shined in the light, frozen in place. The legs on its top half were bent over backwards at grotesque angles, creating a menacing shadow on the wall that was much larger than itself. I had to muffle my own scream, accidentally backing into James in my attempt to get away.

It was standing perfectly still, and shined in the light almost as if it were wet. So this was my first encounter with a Mannequin monster…the static remained strangely quiet, most likely because the creature hadn't moved at all yet.

It looked wrong. I couldn't think of any other word to describe the thing. Two pairs of legs, melded together at the waist…how could a thing like that exist? How could any of this exist?

A hand squeezed my shoulder lightly.

"Don't make any noise," James murmured quietly. "We're going to move past it. It won't attack if we move slowly."

I nodded, trying to quell my shaking as I moved cautiously forward. The circle of light in front of me bobbed as James did the same. The monster didn't move—it wouldn't, not until we came in range of a kick. I wasn't about to give it that opportunity.

After a minute or two of moving like this, we managed to slip past the monster and move back down the hallway. My heart was already pounding in my ears. Maybe that was a good thing—the adrenaline was already flowing, preparing me for the nurses that were bound to be ahead.

The last place we had to check was a pair of double doors that were just past the entrance to the stairwell. I took a deep breath as we approached them, holding the gun tightly in one clammy hand. James and I each took hold of one door each, looked at each other, and pushed them open at the same time.

The hallway we came into was just as dark and musty as the one before. We stood next to a clutter of chairs and gurneys that were piled against one door, as we looked out towards the blackness of the long hall. The static emitting from James' radio began to steadily increase in volume. I raised the handgun, placing a trembling index finger loosely over the trigger.

There was a moan, and a nurse stumbled into the flashlight's beam. Then another came. And another. My eyes widened, and I started to back away. They were attracted to the light! They were all going to come at once!

Rather than waiting to fight them head on, I reinforced my grip on the gun and pulled the trigger. The recoil caught me by surprise, but I managed to keep the weapon steady. In my panicked first shot, the bullet missed them completely. I pulled the trigger again, and clipped the side of one nurse's head. It shrieked and began to hobble faster towards me.

Now at a closer range, I shot for a third time and the impact sent it flying into the one behind it. The second nurse stumbled backwards, before pushing the wounded one away and heading straight for me. It swung out with its pipe, and I took several steps back to avoid it. The nurse's clumsy swing hit the third one in the face, causing it to bowl over backwards and convulse on the floor. As I shot at the oncoming nurse, James moved in to finish off the two that were already down.

I managed to get in two more clean shots, but only at point blank range. I was a terrible shot, especially in this dark atmosphere. As a result, I was drenched in even more blood now. I was starting to get past the point of caring.

"Are they…dead?" I asked after a moment, lowering the gun with a shaky hand. My arms ached from fighting the recoil in order to hold the weapon steady.

"Looks like it," James said, catching his breath. The shotgun hung from his shoulder, unused; I was glad he knew to conserve ammunition. We would need the shotgun for some more powerful enemies later on.

Speaking of ammo…I ejected the handgun's magazine, checking how many bullets were left. I had used seven. My supply was down to thirty-three. Once I got down to twenty…I'd grab some more from James. In the meantime, I reloaded the magazine. Dammit…life would be so much easier if we could just find a couple of loaded clips instead of packs of individual bullets. It was such a time consuming pain in the ass to reload like this.

We didn't run into anything else in the hallway. There wasn't anything else of real interest here, anyway. We went through a couple of rooms and got assaulted a few times, but for the most part it was just a waste of time and energy. One thing we did manage to get, though, was the Lapis Eye key. Now we were one step closer to opening that box that we hadn't even encountered yet.

We also found two first aid kits, which would definitely be useful later. Too bad they weren't a cure for near-fatal wounds in real life. No, the most we would be fixing up here were cuts and scrapes. Anything else…well, I didn't want to think about that right now.

At long last, we headed back downstairs. No new nurses had appeared, to my relief; we had that particular part of the first floor to ourselves. I pulled the exam room key from my pocket, reaching out to unlock the door and let the both of us inside.

There was nothing interesting in the musty exam room. We soon moved through the next door into the doctor's lounge, investigating the larger room. I found a case of shotgun shells sitting on one table, and handed them to James. Doctors carrying shotgun ammo, huh…this hospital was fucked up.

"Look at this," James said, beckoning me over. There was a whiteboard on the wall. Ah, I remembered this.

_3rd floor patient wing hall – 7335_

"Hm…we should probably write that down," I remarked. Thankfully, I managed to find a working pen and paper on the table behind me. I tore a slip off the paper, scribbling down what the whiteboard said and shoving the scrap into my pocket.

"All right, then, should we head to the third floor?" I asked, looking over at James.

"Yeah," he agreed.

We headed back upstairs. The second we stepped out into the third floor hallway, a nurse moved from around the corner and attacked us. I was so startled that I wasted four bullets just on that one enemy. The nurse twitched on the ground, letting out those damned shrieks, attracting four more from the shadows at the other end of the hall. I nearly gasped when I saw a fifth limping along near the back of the group.

"James," I hissed, as we both moved towards the double doors of the patient wing hall without consciously thinking about it. "Seven-three-three-five."

The nurses drew closer. I heard four beeps and a click, and suddenly James had grabbed my arm and was pulling me along. The doors slammed behind us. James grabbed a broom, wedging the shaft between the door handles as a makeshift lock. The doors shook for a moment as the nurses attempted to get in, but they weren't nearly strong enough to make it through. It wasn't long before they lost interest and the blare of static faded.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief, especially when there didn't seem to be any monsters in this particular hall. Thank God for small favors.

James started down the hall, when suddenly I stopped behind him. He looked back. "What is it?"

I shook my head. All of a sudden, I felt dizzy. It was difficult to stand up, and my entire body was shaking. What was going on? I had been fine just a second ago…and now I was starting to feel a stabbing pain in my head and in the pit of my stomach. I let out a quiet groan, leaning back against the wall.

"I…I don't know…" I said quietly, placing a hand lightly over my mouth. "I feel so sick all of a sudden."

"Come on." James grabbed my arm, gently pulling me to the nearest open door. We moved into a very small room, and I was pushed backwards and forced to take a seat on a musty bed. The soft material comforted me a little, but I still couldn't get that feeling to go away.

"Dammit…" I swore to myself, staring at James' feet since the world would spin when I looked up. "I don't even know what it is this time. I swear, I really was okay just a second ago…"

James moved forward a bit, examining something that was on the small table next to the bed. A bloody key…the key to the roof, wasn't it? My muddled mind was having trouble recalling the details right now.

"Why don't you wait here for a bit?" James asked, pocketing the key. "I'm just going to check a few things out."

I shook my head, suddenly feeling frantic. The nervous feeling only made me want to throw up, though, and the frustration I suddenly felt made me want to cry.

"W-Wait, don't go. Don't just leave me here, James!"

He held his hands up, speaking softly and calmly. "Don't worry. I'll be back to check up on you, and it'll only be a few minutes."

"No," I said urgently. "You don't get it. Don't go, James, you can't—"

"You'll get hurt if you follow me around feeling like that. You're safe here. It's okay, I'll be right back," James said, and his hand was already on the doorknob.

"James!" I said, and my voice had elevated to a near yell. "James, you ass! Don't leave me alone here! WAIT!"

The door closed, and he was gone. I fell back on to the bed. Yes, I could follow him…but it was useless. He'd just push me back in here. He thought he knew what was best for me. He didn't know what was coming.

For two full minutes, I sat there and stared at a dark smudge on the wall, concentrating on nothing. I didn't want to think about how alone I suddenly was, but I knew it was inevitable.

My sickness passed during those two minutes. Suddenly I felt perfectly fine, with no explanation as to how I'd felt so horrible in the first place. I was starting to understand, though. Starting to understand all too well.

It had started in Rosewater Park, when I had been standing in that precise spot at that precise time. Then the back door to Heaven's Night had opened of its own accord when I approached it. And now, this…I felt sick enough to stay in the very same room she had stopped at in the game.

"Is that what I am?" I asked myself, feeling numb as the realization began to fully dawn on me. "Some sort of…Maria replacement?"

Fear hit the pit of my stomach in one powerful wave. A single shudder that was nearly as extreme as a convulsion ran through my body, and I clenched my fists tightly.

Maria.

_Maria._

There was only one thing I could think about now that I knew. I had been trying not to think about this particular creature since I realized I was in Silent Hill. I hadn't wanted to send myself into a panic attack. He was the one creature in this town that was impossible to kill…the one that could approach with no warning of static and kill with a single devastating blow. He was the most terrifying and imposing figure ever to roam this town.

Pyramid Head. Pyramid Head was going to kill me before we could leave this hospital.

My entire body was shaking uncontrollably now. I lost all control over my breathing, and started hyperventilating. I had to grab the pillow of the bed and shove my face into it in order to muffle my horrified screams.

Because in Maria's position…survival was utterly impossible.


	6. No Escape

It took me a long ten minutes to bring myself back from the brink. I almost lost myself then; the only thing that saved me was the comforting weight of the gun I held in my hands. I had to stop myself from thinking too far ahead in the future. I couldn't think about all of the horrible things that were fated to happen to Maria.

The handgun…yes, that was what saved my sanity. It wasn't only because I knew that the gun was the only thing that could truly slow Pyramid Head down in a pinch; no, I wasn't about to place all my faith in that shaky knowledge. The handgun saved me because it gave me a choice. I could end it all now, if I wanted to. I could save myself from the horrors.

I didn't want to die, not really. I wanted to cling to hope. But just knowing there was that escape, no matter how much I disapproved of suicide…just knowing was enough.

No, before I jumped to the easy way out, the coward's choice, I was going to try to do this my own way. Now that I knew how dire the situation was, I wanted to escape the fate I'd been given. Since I knew what was supposed to happen, and what James was supposed to do, maybe I had a chance at avoiding the death scenes.

Maybe.

I took another deep breath, cradling the cold metal of the gun in my hands. I found myself staring at the bloody outline of the key that had once been on the table. The roof, the box, the Hangers, the Otherworld…

Once the hospital changed into its nightmare counterpart, the front door would be jammed. James was probably looking at those special treatment rooms right now, if he still wasn't dazed from being pushed off the roof.

Pushed off the…Christ, maybe I should—no. James would be okay; I was going to _die_ if I didn't do something.

I emptied my pockets and counted my bullets with shaking hands. Twenty-five left. Not a low number, but still just low enough to make me feel uncomfortable. How many bullets to kill a nurse? Two? Three? Enough to kill eight nurses at the least. Not enough to kill Pyramid Head. Never enough to kill Pyramid Head.

My hands were shaking almost too badly to place the bullets back in my pockets. I paused to take a deep breath, attempting to steady myself. Okay, okay. Next step.

There was a flashlight on my phone, but it was weak. It would have to do; it was better than walking in pitch darkness. It wasn't a clip-on. I would have to fire the gun with one hand. Low visibility, moderately low bullet count. Maybe four bullets to kill a nurse, then. No, I was just going to run.

I stood up, pulled out my phone, and checked the battery. It was at about seventy-five percent. If I used the flashlight, it'd probably last me an hour or two at the most. That should be more than enough time to get outside.

When I looked at the door, I nearly got the shakes again. Alone…I was all alone. Maybe I wasn't exactly safe with James, but his too-calm demeanor did help. It made a world of difference just hearing someone tell me that everything was going to be okay. Even if it was a lie.

The door opened with an ominous creak, and I made sure to shut it completely behind me so that I wouldn't be tempted to slip back in. A cautious examination with my phone's flashlight revealed nothing but an empty hallway. It had been empty when we entered it not too long ago, and it was still empty now.

The hallway was very quiet. My footsteps should have echoed, but they seemed oddly muffled. The air seemed too heavy and musty. I had noticed all of these things when I was with James, but now that I was alone, everything seemed intensified. It created a distinct sense of claustrophobia in me. It felt like the walls were pressing inwards.

I had to quiet my own breathing as I reached the double doors leading out into the other hall. Those nurses that had ganged up on us…were they still there? I almost didn't have enough courage to go through. But the broom James had barred the door with was gone, so I knew he had been here before me. That was enough to get me to push the doors open.

I was met with the stench of blood and gore, and saw the corpses immediately. They were scattered haphazardly across the floor, their limbs twisted at awkward angles. One of them was still twitching. I kicked at it in a squeamish reflex, and it stopped.

James hadn't killed all of them. I was able to tell this instantly just by making a quick count of the bodies; there were only three. That meant two others were lurking on this floor.

Just as I had this thought, I saw movement just down the hall, near the elevator. There was a small crack of light streaming through the boards that had been sloppily tacked across one of the windows, and I saw this light disappear and reappear. Something was moving in front of it.

As if I wasn't feeling afraid enough, suddenly the idea struck me that I didn't know for sure if it was a nurse or not. It could be _anything_ hidden in the darkness over there. And I couldn't move any closer to look, or I'd risk getting killed. The flashlight on my phone wasn't nearly powerful enough to illuminate what was over there. I could barely see two feet ahead of me.

Rather than stick around to see what the hell it was, I slipped over to the stairwell door and went through. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my breathing seemed far too loud. Now that I knew my real situation, now that I wasn't denying where I was anymore, all I could think about was _him_. Now every shadow I saw was Pyramid Head, every noise I heard was the screech of the Great Knife, every dead monster was his handiwork.

Paranoia ate at me. If he spotted me, nothing could restrain him. He could rip a door right off its hinges if he wanted to.

I couldn't help but glance back at the door behind me as I had this thought. I moved away from it, took a deep breath, and then began the descent down the narrow staircase. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any monsters on the stairs. I doubt they would have been coordinated enough to move up and down the steps.

Reaching the door marked 1F, I turned the knob and began to push it open. Immediately, I heard a loud clang and a moan, causing me to freeze up on the spot. A clammy hand reached through the crack I had created, the grey flesh touching my bare skin. I gasped loudly as I saw the nurse's head on the other side of the door, far too close to my own face. Panicking, I slammed the door shut directly on its arm.

A loud crack resonated through the stairwell as I broke the bone, and the nurse let out a disturbingly feminine wail. I heard the pipe it held clanging hard against the door again, but my hands were practically cemented to the knob of the door. The nurse's screams melded with my own as I opened the door and slammed it shut again, this time tearing the skin. Splinters of white bone jutted out of the monster's arm as blood poured out of the gash. The arm itself was hanging by nothing more than a flap of skin now.

I shoved the door open, pulled the gun from my belt, and fired four times into the darkness. My cell phone was nothing more than a spot of light, sitting on the floor where I had dropped it in my frenzy. The nurse continued to moan and wail as I hastily bent down to snatch up the device, barely able to hold on to it with my bloodstained hands. I shined it over to where I thought the monster was.

Two of my shots had hit home. I ran over to the nurse, slamming the heel of my shoe down on to its deformed face, and felt its head cave in with a disgusting squelch. The nurse immediately fell quiet and stopped moving altogether.

For a moment, I stood still and listened. Nothing else came to assault me. Pressing both of my hands to the wall, I bent over and dry heaved for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't fathom the depravity of what I had just done. The sickening _crack_ of breaking bone echoed over and over in my head.

Even after several minutes had passed, I still hadn't quite gathered my bearings. I couldn't calm down yet, because I wasn't safe. I had just created an enormous racket that was sure to attract plenty of other monsters to this spot. The only solution was to get the hell out of here.

That was when I remembered that I was on the first floor, and the door outside was in sight. Tightening my grip on the gun, I shined the flashlight forward to survey the area before pressing forward at a run. Nothing came to stop me. I was leaving, finally leaving!

I knew I was in a terrible state of denial. Even before I reached the doors, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew they wouldn't open.

Jammed. Completely jammed shut, with no hope of ever opening. I tried and tried, but the most I could do was rattle them. I didn't know why they weren't opening, just that they weren't, and that fact was essentially a death sentence for me.

"No…" I heard myself murmur, finally backing away from the doors and staring at them with wide, uncomprehending eyes. They were just doors. But in here, in this hell, trying to get through a jammed door was about as impossible as breaking through a brick wall. I was trapped.

Feeling tears of horror and frustration stream down my face, I reached forward and rattled the doors again. I pulled as hard as I could, pushed as hard as I could, even slammed my full weight against them. The sound of the rattling and my anguished sobs echoed throughout the hallways, and the fact that I was probably attracting attention only made it worse.

"Let…me… _out!"_ I yelled at the top of my lungs, losing all control. "Why?! _Why can't I leave?! I don't deserve this! I don't want to die! LET ME OUT, GODDAMMIT!"_

I eventually tired myself out, my throat feeling raw from all the screaming I had done. But as my cries seemed to fade out, another noise made itself known. It started out as a low wail, and then grew in intensity until it sapped all of the strength from my limbs.

That was a siren.

It grew louder, faded, and then intensified again. I looked around me in stark disbelief for a moment, watching the walls fade as a new kind of impenetrable darkness permeated everything around me. Tendrils of blood crept down from the ceiling and on to the walls, moving as if they had a life of their own.

The terrible reality of what was happening hit me like a physical force, knocking the wind from my lungs. I clawed at the doors feebly one final time, before sliding down to my knees and curling up in a ball. As I sobbed and trembled uncontrollably, the light on my phone suddenly died and the darkness engulfed me.

And so, the nightmare began.


	7. Alternate Hospital

When I came to, I was no longer in the same place. I knew this because the floor below me felt like wood rather than tile, and because I couldn't feel any walls in my immediate vicinity.

My first feeling was one of extreme, suffocating panic. I hadn't even realized that I had fallen unconscious in the first place; the last thing I remembered was sobbing uncontrollably as the siren wailed in the background. I had been on the first floor, near the front doors. The doors that had sealed me into this hell.

It was pitch black. I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face. It took everything I had to stop myself from hyperventilating, especially when my eyes just couldn't adjust to the darkness.

Shaking, I reached over to my hip and found the reassuring weight of the gun. There were still bullets in my pockets, but I wouldn't be able to see enough to reload the weapon if I needed to.

I felt along the floor, and found the rectangular form of my cell phone sitting on the ground between my legs. My thumb found one of the buttons on the front of the device and I pressed it, expecting the screen to light up. It didn't. I realized with growing horror that the battery must have died; in other words, I was stuck in this darkness.

Although I was somehow managing not to hyperventilate, my breathing seemed far too loud. I pressed my heels against the floor, pushing myself backwards and running my hands along the wood as I moved. My entire body was quaking with fear; I wanted to cry. It was dead silent in this place, wherever it was, but that didn't help at all.

I nearly jumped when my back met a wall, and my spine stiffened. I reached backwards to feel the wall, and noted that it was made of what felt like brick. Wood floors and brick walls…where the hell was I? Was I even in the hospital anymore? Oh, God…I couldn't see anything…!

Somehow, I managed to stumble to my feet. Sliding my feet over the floor so that I wouldn't trip on anything, I slowly made my way along the wall in search of a door out of here.

And if I found an exit? What then? If it was just as dark outside as it was in here…

I wanted to scream, but I was afraid it would attract attention. I wanted to leave, but I didn't know where I would go. But if I stayed in one spot, what would happen to me? What if something was in here _with_ me? I couldn't see…I couldn't see…did I _want_ to see? No…

A grinding noise coming from up above caused me to freeze up. My eyes opened wide as I fought to adjust to the darkness, but nothing worked. Grinding. Anything could be making that scraping, grinding noise. The image of Pyramid Head formed in my mind, and I flattened myself against the brick wall, paralyzed.

The noise stopped, and I heard the sound of a light metal clanging. Then, from the end of the room opposite me, I saw something…a brightening light. The light revealed a metal ladder on the wall, and then a pair of shoes climbing down, and then a man had dropped into the room. Oh, thank God, it was him!

James seemed to sense the presence of someone else in the room, and he looked over in my direction, though he couldn't see me because his flashlight wasn't shining in my direction. It looked like he saw my figure in the darkness, though, because I saw his eyes widen. I stepped forth, trying to bury my fear as I opened my mouth to speak to him.

He beat me to it, immediately moving forward. "Mary?"

Then he faltered when I drew into the light, realizing his mistake. His face fell. "Oh…it's just you. Sorry…"

I just stared at him with my mouth partially open as he shifted awkwardly. My fearful trembles were just beginning to fade, and I was able to think rationally again; I realized where I was and what had happened. I had failed in my attempt to leave the hospital for good, which meant I was going to be present for the chase scene…

Then I remembered that I had spent the past ten minutes in a pitch black room, completely vulnerable, and hanging on to my sanity by a thread…only to have James come down and act put out at the very sight of me.

"Anyway," James said, finally meeting my gaze. "I'm glad you're alive."

"'Anyway'?" I clenched my fists, finally understanding why Maria was so pissed off at this point in the game. "Yeah, let's just move on, why don't we? You just _abandoned_ me, and now you're acting disappointed to see me again? No, it's cool. It's not like I was _scared out of my fucking mind_ or anything. Fuck you, James."

"No, that's not what I meant—" He started to speak, but I shook my head.

"I get it, okay? If I'm such a burden, just say so. You don't have to pretend to give a shit if you don't want to," I said. My voice trembled a little, and I inwardly cursed myself, feeling pathetic and small and incredibly helpless.

The room fell quiet for a few moments, as I just stared at my feet. I couldn't even look at him. It surprised me how much his little slip had hurt; I hadn't even known the guy for a day yet, but the knowledge that he might not care as much as I hoped he did was agonizing. My excitement and relief at seeing his face again was now mixed with a bitter feeling of resentment.

"…I'm sorry," he said after the silence had stretched on for too long.

"No, you're not," I replied in a weak voice. I heard him sigh.

"Don't say that. I really am. I _do_ care about you, and I don't think you're a burden. I…I just…"

"You're just here for your wife," I finished for him, still staring down at the ground. "And I'm just some random girl. I know." No…I wasn't going to let myself cry again.

"That's not what I was about to say," he murmured. I clenched my fists, blinking back tears, before closing the distance between us and wrapping my arms tightly around him.

"Promise me you won't ever leave me like that again," I said, feeling immensely comforted by the human contact. "I thought I was going to _die_ , you asshole."

He stiffened a little, but returned the embrace with minimal hesitation. In other circumstances, we would be complete strangers to each other…but here, in this place, it felt like we had known each other for years. The fear left me so emotionally charged that I was willing to do a lot of things that I would never normally do. Embracing a man I just met hours ago, who was also covered in blood and grime, wasn't all that unusual.

"I promise," he said. "I won't leave you alone again. I'm sorry."

Hearing him say that calmed me down a great deal, and after a few seconds, I pulled away and wiped my eyes. I finally started to feel like I had a little more control over the situation.

"…I'm sorry, too," I finally said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that…I was just really upset. I was down here in the dark for too long…"

"It's all right," he assured me. "…Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I shrugged, still feeling a little shaken up. Then I noted something else about him—now that my eyes had adjusted to the light, I saw that he was covered in some places with a thin white dust. His clothes were also torn up a lot more than I remembered, and he was bleeding, too.

"What happened to you?" I asked, already suspecting what his answer might be.

He hesitated, and then let out a small sigh. "I…fell off the roof."

Though I wasn't surprised, my eyebrows flew up at how bluntly he put it. I walked in a circle around him, brushing the plaster dust off of him and attempting to assess his injuries. Thank God…it was nothing too bad. I was shocked that he hadn't broken anything—he had been near death at that point in the game.

"Christ," I muttered. "How did you manage that?"

"Something…pushed me off," James explained. "I got lucky; I fell into something soft."

"Good," I replied. "You look like hell, though."

"I know."

I finally paused in my examination, satisfied that he wasn't too badly hurt. He was only bleeding from a few minor cuts, which would probably close up in a little while. I looked up at him, crossing my arms.

"Well, what happened while we were separated? Did you see Laura?"

He nodded. "She got away, though. I don't know where she could be now…"

"Oh…" I murmured, and then somehow managed to gather my resolve. "…Okay. I guess we'd better go look for her…where the hell are we, anyway? When that siren went off, I blacked out and woke up here."

James pulled out the map, moving closer to show me. He frowned, before taking out a pencil and erasing a few things. I leaned over, watching him; that was right, everything had changed, so he probably had to adjust all of the marks he had made. I hadn't even realized he had been marking things off. He probably hadn't started until after he left me behind.

It struck me as funny for a moment when I realized that he used the exact same marks that had been used on the maps in the game. He scribbled out jammed doors, and used a bold line over ones that were locked. He signified open doors by drawing a line through them with an arrow on either side. I also noticed that there was a rectangle drawn with a line through it in the day room—the refrigerator? James couldn't open it in real life, either?

"We're right here." James broke me out of my reverie, pointing to a little room in the basement. Yeah, that looked familiar.

"Where do we go next?" I asked tentatively, frowning. Now that I was down here with James, away from all the monsters, part of me just wanted to hole up in this room. I knew it wouldn't work and we'd probably just die down here, but still…nothing would find us all the way down here…

James wasn't looking at me; he had faltered, distracted by something. I watched now as he bent over, picking up a small ring from a puddle of blood on the floor. Did everything around here have to be covered in blood? I watched as he examined it for a moment, before pocketing it.

"We might need it later," he said to me abruptly, as if I was about to question his actions. I just shrugged in reply. The copper ring…that was one of the rings we needed to unlock that weird door with the woman's hands sticking out of it.

I didn't want to think about that door.

He seemed to remember my question, and looked at me once more. "…Let's head up to the second floor. There's something I need your help with."

If I hadn't been so scared, I would've smiled at that. I couldn't believe James actually needed a girl to help him open that stupid fridge.

"Okay," I said, nodding, and followed him to the ladder leading out of the room.

It was too far up for me to reach, so James grabbed me by the hips and hoisted me up. I reluctantly climbed up the metal ladder, emerging out into the dark storeroom. The room grew brighter as James climbed up behind me, and soon it was illuminated enough for me to examine it more thoroughly. The shelf that had once blocked the entrance to that underground room, I noticed uneasily, had the same bloody handprints on it that I remembered from the game.

This place was an insane asylum, wasn't it? What had that room been used for? That person, the one who had been locked inside the "basement's basement"…what had they done to deserve it?

Even the normal Silent Hill showed some clear evidence of strange activity going on behind the scenes…and that wasn't even considering the whole thing with Alessa and The Order. This town was just messed up in general. All the history I remembered reading on this place involved weird epidemics, Indian rituals, and mysterious deaths. It was starting to get all jumbled together in my mind…

There was an overturned shelf in front of me, with a variety of objects scattered across the floor. It was a mess in here, and the dust nearly caused me to start coughing. James moved past me and gestured for me to follow, and I let him lead me out of the room.

After a few seconds, we had moved through the door and into the stairwell. I noticed that it was a lot darker here than it had been before—it was the walls. The walls were covered in a strange grime that hadn't been present before the change. James walked up the stairs, and I followed closely behind, not wanting to get caught up in the heavy darkness that surrounded us.

"All of these doors are jammed now," the blond explained in a low voice as we passed the door marked '2F'. We continued onward to the third floor, walking out into the hallway.

It was the same general layout, but everything had a distinct sort of…deteriorated look. The walls were covered in the same grime from the stairwell, and some of the doors were covered with what looked like cloth. I didn't understand the purpose of it, but then again, I also didn't understand the purpose of the cemented over doors in the apartment buildings. Sometimes it was better not to question certain things.

James didn't bother looking around the area, so I assumed he'd already examined it. Instead, he headed straight for the double doors that led to the patient wing hallway. I followed him through, not wanting to wait around for any nurses.

The next hall we entered was about as interesting as the one before; the grime was still there, though now I could see specks of blood on the tile floor. We stepped over the body of a nurse, and I made sure to give it a wide berth. James paused for a moment, looking down at it with a frown, and I had a moment of panic where I thought it might still be alive. When he moved on, though, I realized that I had been mistaken. Why had he stopped like that, then?

I couldn't shake my curiosity. We passed by another nurse, and this time I made sure to move slowly, examining the body as I passed.

It looked mangled in general, which wasn't a surprise; hitting something with a pipe would do that. But…something seemed _wrong_ about it. The lower half of the nurse's uniform was drenched in blood. It was lying on its side, so I stopped to reach a foot out and flip it over on to its back. I instantly regretted it.

"Oh, God!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself, gasping in horror. Now I knew. James hadn't killed those nurses.

"What?" James called from up ahead, instantly turning around and lifting the pipe in case I needed help. "What, what is it—" Then he cut himself off, falling silent as he saw the same thing I did.

The nurse that I had flipped over now laid flat on the floor, its legs splayed to reveal nothing but blood and destroyed flesh between them. Splinters of bone poked through the skirt of the nurse's blood drenched uniform, showing that the pelvis had probably been completely shattered. Something had raped this nurse to death.

I couldn't wrap my head around how _violently_ this nurse must have been taken…and how impossibly strong the creature that had done this had to be. It occurred to me that this kill was relatively fresh, since the hospital hadn't been in this changed state for very long. _He_ had been here not too long ago. _He_ had been standing here, in this very spot.

As if to prove this fact, I now noticed a line of broken tiles on the floor, leading all the way down the hall; something heavy and sharp had clearly been dragged across the floor. I also noticed a trail of blood alongside the broken tiles…it looked like Pyramid Head had taken another nurse for later.

I tried to think of all the jokes people had cracked about Pyramid Head, all of the hilarious web comics and internet memes I had seen. Unfortunately, telling myself that it was Rape O' Clock didn't exactly make me feel any better at this point. It had been funnier when I was holding a controller in my hand and James was the only one in danger. Because when people made jokes about Pyramid Head…it was only a defensive mechanism to make him seem less scary. There was nothing funny about him at all. There was nothing funny about one monster brutalizing another.

There was nothing funny about the fact that I could end up like that, lying broken and mutilated and _dead_ on the floor.

Hands gripped my shoulders, and I almost screamed. James had approached me while I had been staring at the corpse in a kind of paralyzed horror; now he eased me past the nurse, further on down the hallway. I didn't resist; the image of the completely destroyed area between the nurse's legs persisted in my mind. I felt the need to throw up, but I had nothing left in my stomach. My throat already burned with bile.

"Don't think about it," James warned me in a murmur. "The thing that did it is gone. I'm here to protect you. It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. He didn't hear me; instead he continued to lead me down the hallway, until we arrived at the elevator.

I noticed the door to the stairwell…that door with the woman on the front. Her two arms really did stand out from the door; they looked plastic, and yet fleshy at the same time…like the Mannequin monsters. On the ring finger of each hand was a slight indent, which was a pretty clear indication of what should be placed there. I saw James staring at those hands, hesitating, before he turned and pressed the button to open the elevator doors.

Ah. The blood trail that I had noticed earlier led to the stairwell door and vanished beneath it. Now I knew why James was putting off trying to open it until we were out of options.

"Come on," he said, and I followed him all too willingly. The elevator doors shut behind us, closing us in, and I slumped against one of the walls. I saw James press the button for the second floor, and braced myself in case there would be something on the other side of the doors when they opened.

I heard the sound of operating machinery, and felt the elevator start moving downward. We didn't say anything, just preparing ourselves for when the elevator would stop.

Then James' radio started emitting static, and we both froze. Oh…oh, shit! Nothing was supposed to happen in the elevator, right?

I remembered, with sudden relief, that this was the point where that weird game show would play. Some creepy voice would ask us a couple of questions, invite us to collect our prize, and then cackle at the prospect of our failure to answer correctly. As I stared at James' radio and waited for the cheering to start, the elevator lurched to a halt.

James and I stared at each other, wide-eyed. This wasn't supposed to happen. This was not supposed to happen!

The static on the radio grew louder and louder as the elevator car trembled. I looked around wildly, frantically trying to figure out what was causing it. James was already reaching up and clawing at a small maintenance hatch on the top of the elevator car, trying to open it so that we could escape into the shaft. Then the car shuddered once more, something let out a wail from the outside, and I saw blood seeping through the cracks around the hatch. The small trapdoor shook, and there was a screeching noise as something clawed at the top of the elevator car.

" _Don't open it!"_ I cried, horrified. _"Don't let it in, James!"_

Now James was attempting to hold the hatch shut, as I panicked and fumbled for the handgun. The elevator car lurched and dropped a few feet before halting again, causing James to fall to the floor as I let out a scream. An ominous groan came from up above, followed by a loud snap; the car lurched again as James and I fought to stay upright. He was pounding at the 'open door' button as the car jerked downward again, and all I could hear was labored breathing that didn't belong to either of us. Something howled loudly outside of the car, and the howling was soon mixed in with my own terrified screams.

The elevator fell downward another few feet and stopped again, and I heard that horrible groaning noise. This time there were two more loud snaps, followed by another jerk. The elevator doors opened just a crack. James dove at them, instantly placing his hands in the crack. I ran forward as well, helping him pry the doors open at a painfully slow pace. The elevator car was shaking precariously.

Then the doors were open just enough, and we were halfway between floors. James immediately hoisted me up through the small opening we had, before climbing through himself. We rolled out on to a dirty floor, getting to our knees just in time to see the shadow perched on top of the car we had just been inside of. I reached up with the gun and immediately fired off three rounds, and the figure let out a screech. There was another snap, and the elevator plummeted out of sight.

James and I exchanged glances, staring into the darkness of the elevator shaft until we heard the inevitable crash. I felt the floor rumble a little from the impact, and could barely hold on to the gun anymore. My entire body was drenched in a cold sweat, and I felt nauseous.

Those snapping noises we had heard in the elevator car…had been the sounds of that monster severing the cables. We had gotten out just in time.

Dead silence. No monsters came to confront us in our moment of vulnerability, as we attempted to gather our bearings. I was shaking uncontrollably, fighting to control the volume of my breathing. Even James looked visibly shaken. He stumbled to his feet, helping me up as well. We both leaned against the wall and stared in the direction of the elevator shaft for what felt like a very long time.

That hadn't happened in the game.

What else was going to happen? Were safe areas really safe? Could any monster appear at any time at all? What the hell had just attacked us?

The silence was too much. We couldn't stand here forever…

"Th-That was…" I attempted to speak, but my voice cracked and I choked on a sob. James placed a clammy hand on my shoulder and squeezed. He was attempting to comfort me, but he himself was white as a ghost. We had almost _died_ just then.

"Let's get out of here," he suggested, managing to keep his voice steady. I readily agreed.

And so, I followed closely behind as he led me in the direction of the day room, though I wasn't sure I'd have enough physical strength to do much of anything after that particular ordeal. I just wanted to sit down somewhere and cry.


End file.
